Gas was 29.9 at the Texaco station in Cairo. IL...everywhere else from Waukegan, IL to Booneville, Miss. it was 36.9. It was Highway 45 from home to there and back.
Penny candy....yes...two quarters got you a small paper bag full of sugar buzz for 4 days.
Ice cold Pepsi, Coke, Mt Dew, Choclit Soldier, Dr Pepper, in the old stand-up coolers with double lid handles and an opener on the side.
You could get 4 FULL SIZED candy bars (not the chincy sized now) for a buck.
A Pepsi & "Nabs" was lunch. Everyone put Spanish Peanuts in their Coke. You could get 3 songs on the jukebox for a quarter.
Places had to put gas prices and milk prices on different signs because the price was so close. Every kid had a flat-top haircut, wore short sleeved shirts and wore blue jeans with a 3" cuff at the bottom. Mom's and grandmothers had the old "peddle it with your own feet" sewing machine...and washed clothes with the old "hand crank" stand up washer (electric if they were lucky). Everyone had a outdoor clothesline.
Everyone had the Gulf gas station orange horse-shoes on their back window and Sinclair gas stations gave out an inflatable "Dino" the dinasaur toy with every fill-up. Texaco had discounts on red fire engine toys with every fillup.
TV was in "Living Color"(but we didn't get one until 1970)...but that didn't make the tv news on the "growing" problem of Viet Nam any easier to watch. Green Hornet, Batman, Lost in Space, That Girl, Bewitched, Red Skelton, Carol Burnett, and (ugh) Lawrence welk....but then there was Ed Sullivan (Elvis & The Beatles), and My Favorite Martian. My fav was the Jack Benny Show because he was from my hometown and the first 2 years of Star Trek.
Apollo 1 My kindergarten teacher cried--and so did we. Apollo 8 was at Christmas and was definitely moving. Sitting and watching Apollo 11 "LIVE" and the Armstrong first step was surreal for a 9 year old.
Oh...and Mc Donalds didnt have seating...none...you went up, ordered at a window and took it back to the station wagon and ate it hot---just don't spill anything or daddy would take a cherry switch to your backside.
Gawd....I a phreeking OLD.
ROX